Will the LFB be exempt from the Mayors new DVS?

[Messyshaw]

There’s no rest for the transport industry in London as the Mayor has them in his sights next. On top of ULEZ, LEZ, Congestion Charge, Time restrictions, HGV Safety Certificate  and the FORS scheme, the Mayor is making significant safety changes due in October 2024.

If an HGV doesnt comply, it will not be able to operate within the 620 miles2 of the GLA

I am not sure if 999 vehicles are exempt, but as the Mayor controls Transport for London (buses) and the LFB, it would be a bit rich if they were exempted.

 

Very briefly HGVs over 12 tonne must achieve a 3* DVS (Direct Vision Status) rating. This relates to how much the driver can see from his/her seat. Some trucks are already DVS 3*, but definitely not all.

If they don’t achieve a 3* DVS rating then they must install a PSS (Progressive Safe System) comprising of:

CMS (Camera Monitoring System)- as it sounds, camera systems giving the driver extra visibility in blind spots

MOIS (Moving off Information System) - Where high cabs can create a blind spot in front and close to the bumper of the truck

Audio Manoeuvring  Management - audible beeps when RH drive trucks turn left and vice versa for LH drive cabs

 

Other measures such as signage and low side bars - and extra mirrors may be necessary

I am not sure if or how the LFB are preparing for these changes, but the freight industry - and especially the construction industry - are well on top of things. New tippers and concrete mixers with low cabs and large bus type doors are already common and the less obvious cameras are in widespread use 

[Percy]

If hauliers simply stopped delivering and operating within London bringing other business to their knees, these nonsense schemes would cease within days.

Every construction site would come to a halt, restaurants too, in fact everything would.

But people are far to greedy.

[Keith]

Would agree with you @Percy. It's got to only be a question of time before industry stands up to this lunacy with the equivalent of the old London cabbie's "sorry guv, don't go sarf of the river".  

[Messyshaw]

My problem with London's Mayor and his capital wide legislation for ULEZ (emissions) and now HGV safety is that unless these policies dovetail into neighbouring areas, there's a bit of a weakness 

I live 2.5 miles from the busiest section of the M25 between the M1 and M3 which services Heathrow (that's 5 miles away from my lungs as I sit here). None of those Motorways is effected by ULEZ

Talking of Heathrow, 536 smelly flights a day fly in/out of the place and carry 19.4 million passengers and 1.4 million tonnes of cargo every year. That cargo and the 200,000 people employed at or around the area mostly move by car/truck. ULEZ will have very little impact on that as shift workers can't always use public transport.

So the air I breathe is impacted by our smell neighbour and by vehicles moving through Hertfordshire, Bucks, Berks and Surrey. I am not anti-ULEZ, I just think climate policies need to be national or international to stand any chance of success 


As for the DVS safety for HGV - this is a far better policy but needs UK wide policy to be successful. There have been significant reductions in deaths in London since a lighter version of DVS was introduced. Many of us would have pulled a cyclist or person from under a heavy vehicle - anything that can be done to use technology to reduce that death toll has to be worth it 

[TandA]

On 01/09/2023 at 22:50, Keith said:

Would agree with you @Percy. It's got to only be a question of time before industry stands up to this lunacy with the equivalent of the old London cabbie's "sorry guv, don't go sarf of the river".  

Having almost been crushed some years back by a lorry who put me in his blind spot at a set of traffic lights in central London - he arrived at the red well after me - and then forgot I was there when he moved off, I don’t see them as lunacy but as a LONG OVERDUE safety measure. It still makes me shiver when I think about it and it must be 30 years ago or more.  Had I not been aware of the danger he put me in, and take some fairly aggressive avoiding action then I would have been under his rear wheels as he drove away.

22 hours ago, Messyshaw said:

As for the DVS safety for HGV - this is a far better policy but needs UK wide policy to be successful. There have been significant reductions in deaths in London since a lighter version of DVS was introduced. Many of us would have pulled a cyclist or person from under a heavy vehicle - anything that can be done to use technology to reduce that death toll has to be worth it 

Yes, it needs to be UK wide but in the face of total Govt inaction over many decades, I am happy to see London doing something proactive even though I live outside the affected zone.  Hopefully, a few year’s worth of stats will make an unstoppable case for this to be pushed out nationwide.  If most people knew how big the blind spots were on HGVs and tippers, they would be horrified that these vehicles were allowed on our roads, especially as the “technology “ to eliminate the problem exists.  Technology in quotes since glass vision panels are hardly high tech.